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0:13Skip to 0 minutes and 13 secondsIn the Indian Ocean area, Australia is a strong point of attraction for people fleeing conflicts and persecutions and trying to reach safer areas, where they can apply for refugee status. In the last decades, this has been among the reasons for different waves of irregular maritime arrivals to head towards Australian shores. Since the 1970s, these were people leaving Vietnam, south of China, Bangladesh, Myanmar, and Sri Lanka, but more recently and in larger numbers, also people fleeing war in countries further away, such as Iran, Afghanistan, or Iraq.

0:56Skip to 0 minutes and 56 secondsIndonesia has a special role in these journeys as a transit point, where migrants enter in contact with smugglers and intermediaries that help them sail towards Australia.

1:10Skip to 1 minute and 10 secondsOver the years, the Australian government has elaborated various strategies to reduce the impact of irregular maritime arrivals while granting humanitarian protection to people it establishes should receive it.

1:26Skip to 1 minute and 26 secondsWith the Pacific Solution, it is decided to excise some areas of its territory to build detention centres, where migrants can make offshore applications for international protection.

1:52Skip to 1 minute and 52 secondsToday, asylum seekers can avoid detention, if they are granted bridging visas that allow them to temporarily reside in Australia under specific conditions-- that they respect a code of behaviour and that they do not present health, identity, security, or behavioural issues that represent a risk to local population.

2:16Skip to 2 minutes and 16 secondsIf on one hand with these measures the Australian government has heavily reduced the number of people detained in its offshore centres, on the other, it is granting humanitarian protection to a smaller quota of people every year.

2:32Skip to 2 minutes and 32 secondsIn 2014, for example, only about 13,000 people have received humanitarian visas, with almost half of them being refugees resettled in Australia by the UNHCR.

Maritime arrivals in Australia

This video introduces the issue of maritime migration to Australia and how, since 2001, the Australian government has responded with its so-called ‘Pacific Solution’.